site.btaSurvey: 94% of Bulgarians Think Government Should Support Locally Produced Food

Survey: 94% of Bulgarians Think Government Should Support Locally Produced Food

Sofia, April 21 (BTA) - A TNS Opinion survey has found that 94
per cent of Bulgarians think that the government should support
locally produced food. The survey, whose findings were released
on Tuesday, has been carried out in eight European countries for
 the Friends of the Earth Europe and Za Zemiata environmental
organizations.

Eighty-one per cent of respondents try to find out if the food
they buy is local. Seventy-one per cent say it is difficult to
find information where they can buy local food. According to 61
per cent of respondents, there are not enough outlets which sell
 locally produced food, and 43 per cent sometimes buy local
food.

Eighty-nine per cent believe that buying local food helps create
 new jobs in the region. According to Za Zemiata, this shows
that the local and central authorities should make more effort
to promote the existing outlets for locally produced food such
as farmer markets and food cooperatives.

Za Zemiata's Ivailo Popov commented that the increasingly global
 and industrialized food industry destroys jobs, harms the
environment and produces expensive food controversies, while
small and middle Bulgarian farmers are disappearing. The survey
has shown that politicians should do much more to support
locally produced food and develop local food economies to revive
 rural regions in Bulgaria.